This bridal session is what my dreams are made of. Jessica drove all the way from Houston to have her bridal session at Mattie’s, and can’t you see why? If you want a dreamy setting with mature oaks, pretty colors, and a little touch of Southern, then Mattie’s is the place. But I had no idea how perfectly Jessica’s dress would match those little pink patio chairs, and when I saw the dress my heart about exploded! I mean this is the BHLDN dress of dreams.

I get a lot of questions from brides on why they should have a bridal session. It’s hard for me to answer without gushing, because I’m pretty passionate about it. To me, bridal sessions are able to put a really meaningful end mark on a very important season of life, while simultaneously opening the door to a new, exciting future. Engagement is such a crazy season. You make so many choices, go through so many adjustments, deal with so much change. From family dynamics to budgets to guest lists, the wedding planning season can be filled with just as much challenge as it can excitement. I feel like bridal sessions are able to give back what stress attempts to steal from the engagement season. Bridal sessions are a joy. They’re a celebration. They’re a “get to,” not a “have to.” There are a lot of “have to’s” in engagement and wedding planning season. But a bridal session is kind of like a gift that engagement gives to you, and only so many brides reach out and take it! You only get the opportunity to open that gift once. And each bride of mine who’s taken the time to have a bridal session has shared with me how special it was for them, and how it was able to add that whimsical feeling back into their final days of engagement, instead of solely focusing on the last minute little details of finalizing the wedding day, paying balances, and backing bags for the honeymoon. There are a lot of things that sit on the shoulders of a bride, but a bridal session is a thing that is able to take some of that off of your shoulders and replace it with a little bit of joy and whimsy.

Whimsy is what I felt from Jessica during this whole session. She was in a busy season at this time, with all kinds of things happening just months before the wedding. But watching her smile as she spun around in her wedding dress (that she carefully selected and only gets to wear one other time), made me feel so happy for her that she chose to have a session and that I was the one who got to create these heirloom images for her–images that she’ll share with family, friends, and her children one day. She will always have these to look back on and remember what it was like just before her wedding day, and that is a really priceless gift!